SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown slammed his side as a bunch of children after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Bury on Saturday.

The Shrimpers had to settle for a share of the spoils at Gigg Lane after conceding an injury-time equaliser.

And that infuriated Brown at the final whistle.

“I’m angry and massively disappointed because all the problems we had were of our own making,” said Brown.

“We panicked under pressure and that was right from the start.

“We were naive and like a bunch of children out there making wrong decisions.

“We’ve thrown away two valuable points and if these players don’t learn soon then we’ll have to change them.”

Southend went in front midway through the first half against the Shakers when Ben Coker netted his first ever goal in the Football League when he curled home a fantastic free-kick.

But Coker went from hero to villain in the closing stages as he was sent off three minutes from time after being shown two yellow cards.

But Brown refused to blame the full-back for the draw.

“Do I blame Ben Coker? No,” said Brown. “The lad clearly dived for his first yellow card and the second one was given for handball, but I still think he’s been one of the finds of the season for us.

“He recovered well from the trauma he went through against Scunthorpe when he made a mistake for their winner and he’s responded by scoring a fantastic goal.

“I could stand here and blame him, or the referee or the red card – but I don’t want to.

“We played for 45 minutes with 10 men at Hartlepool and still won the game, so we should have been able to do it for three.

“I actually blame the people who keep on giving away these needless free kicks and we have to do better.”
The draw pushed Blues up to 14th in the League Two and ended a run of four straight defeats.

But Brown felt his team paid the price for failing to build on Coker’s opening goal.

“We should have got a second goal before half-time and that also cost us,” said the Shrimpers boss.

“Freddy (Eastwood) had a great chance, Mark Phillips blocked a shot from John White and then also had a header saved so the opportunities were there.

“If we had got that second goal then it would have been different and we ended up paying the price for it right at the end.”